Kenneth Copeland's Southwest Believers' Convention Drew $9 Million Into Fort Worth

Attendees of the 46th Southwest Believers' Convention spent a little over $9 million in Fort Worth, according to figures Visit Fort Worth supplied to Kenneth Copeland Ministries. That spending touched downtown lodging, transportation, and entertainment, and the city's tourism bureau tied it to 1,033 jobs.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries released the totals on Aug. 20, three weeks after the six-day convention closed. KCM reports it as the strongest economic showing among its post-COVID events, ahead of the $8.8 million generated by the 2025 gathering.

More than 8,200 people attended in person across 25 sessions, representing all 50 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and 44 countries and territories. This year's theme was "Homecoming," a nod to a ministry that has never moved the event out of its own city.

"They came to our home," Kenneth Copeland said of the crowd.

What the Convention Returned to the City

Visit Fort Worth has backed the partnership publicly for years, and its president and CEO did so again after this year's event.

"For the past 46 years, Kenneth Copeland Ministries has hosted its Southwest Believers' Convention in Fort Worth. We appreciate their ongoing dedication, which keeps our summer calendar full and strengthens Fort Worth's tourism economy," said Mitch Whitten, president and CEO of Visit Fort Worth.

Spending is concentrated in the districts nearest the convention center. John Copeland, CEO of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, pointed to the geography in his own statement.

"For 46 consecutive years, Fort Worth has been our home," he said. "Knowing that the love of God filled Sundance Square, 7th Street, the Stockyards and the rest of the city was a tremendous blessing to us. Seeing how much money believers from around the world invested in the city like this was equally important."

Who Watched From Somewhere Else?

Virtual attendance outpaced the room. KCM reports that tens of thousands of people in 102 countries and territories streamed sessions live or on demand through Victory Channel, the ministry's 24/7 network, as well as its websites, YouTube and social media platforms.

Measured against 2025, every major online metric climbed:

• Website video views: up 93%
• Overall watch time: up 129%
• Returning users: up 163%
• First-time visitors: up 222%

One demographic shift stood out to the ministry. "For the first time in our history, the leading age demographic to visit us online during the Southwest Believers' Convention was 25-34 years of age," John Copeland said. "God is doing something new here."

KCM's audience has historically skewed older. Those 2026 online numbers arrived after a year in which the ministry rebuilt KCM.org, relaunched its mobile app and started a podcast, all aimed at reaching people who do not watch broadcast television. The online audience's geography was broad. John Copeland listed viewers "from Sweden to South Africa, New Zealand to the Arctic of Canada."

Salvation, Baptisms and a Street Team

Alongside the economic totals, KCM reported the ministry outcomes it tracks each year. A street team of evangelists worked downtown each night of the convention, and the ministry credits those conversations with leading 1,160 people in prayers of salvation.

Another 94 people were baptized following the convention's final service on Saturday, Aug. 1.

Street evangelism has become a fixture of the week rather than a side activity. KCM trains volunteers on site during the convention, sending them into the same downtown blocks where attendees are eating and staying.

Comparison with prior years is awkward. KCM recorded 807 salvations and 95 baptisms in its children's and youth services alone in 2025, and it counts categories differently from one convention to the next, so the totals do not line up cleanly year over year.

The Last Years of a Landmark

This year's convention will be among the final events held under the Fort Worth Convention Center dome. The arena is scheduled to be demolished to make room for a rebuilt facility that matches the rest of the city's renovation work.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries has staged the convention in that building for its entire 46-year run, a continuity almost no comparable faith event in the United States can claim. Admission has been free in each of those years, funded by the ministry's Partners and general revenue rather than by ticket sales.

Where the 47th convention will be held has not been announced.

A Ministry Measured in Two Ledgers

Convention week is the largest single entry in a broader accounting. KCM's 2025 Covenant Partner Report documented $20 million directed to 147 outreaches worldwide, 31 domestic disaster relief deployments, and work across 165 nations and territories.

Fort Worth sees a narrower slice of that: six days, one building and a spending figure its tourism bureau can count. Hotels, restaurants and venues near Sundance Square have been able to plan around the same week each summer since 1981.

What the Numbers Do and Do Not Say

Two figures anchor the 2026 report: $9 million in visitor spending and 8,200 in-person attendees. Both come from the ministry and its tourism partner rather than an independent audit, and KCM described attendance differently in 2025, reporting nearly 18,000 registrations rather than a headcount.

Visit Fort Worth stands behind the spending figure, which makes it the more comparable of the two. On that measure, a convention held in a building slated for demolition delivered the largest return Kenneth Copeland Ministries has posted since the pandemic.

"Next year will be bigger than ever," John Copeland said.